pre-dating the iPod by 2 years, here is the Sony NW-MS7, or the 'MS Walkman': Mine was never used, a JP edition, maintained in its box since late 1999. As the name suggests, this is a Memory Stick Walkman, meaning that it takes Sony's Memory Stick MagicGate memory cards, instead of internal flash memory. Sony created this to promote its MemoryStick format, released a year earlier, and add to the growing number of MemoryStick accessories. Retailing for $399.99 in the US, this is one of the more frustrating digital music players, and was a failure. I am very careful to never use the term 'MP3' here, because this is *not* an MP3 player. It cannot play MP3s, or be used by an MP3 music manager. Instead, it uses ATRAC3, which was Sony's much more secure locked down form of a digital compression music format, later used by NET-MD. In addition, you must use the included Sony OpenMG Jukebox software version 1.0. You cannot use Windows Media Player, WINAMP, MusicMatch, or REALJukebox. In fact, you cannot even use later versions of OpenMG Jukebox or SonicStage with much success, since they didn't include drivers for the MS7. To add insult to injury, OpenMG 1.0 only uses 132kbps max for compression on ATRAC3, and will only let you 'check-out' a song to the MS7 3 times, before the song is no longer able to be transferred again. To fix this, you would have to 'check-in' all of the songs on the MS7's memory stick back to OpenMG, allowing you to use it again. Rounding off the list of negatives, what is copied to the MemoryStick cannot be copied to another MemoryStick, even if they are both MagicGate. Without OpenMG involved, your digital music would become inaccessible. I am super lucky to have this one, all complete and working. I can sync it to OpenMG and copy music, it sounds really bad compared to modern digital music players, but it does work.
Have you tried the infamous "Sonic Stage" ? That became the standard for later Sony digital players. Most of the reviews at the time said that the Sony hardware was superior to Apple, but that iTunes was superior in every way to Sonic Stage.
I use it too, and SonicStage works quite well. Obviously the conversion step in between is annoying, but that is that.
My experience with SonicStage was not great. As I mentioned, it was possible to use it, but not with reliable success. I had frequent driver problems, and running such an old player (USB1) on Windows 7 was not smooth at all. My best experience was just using the disc it came with on WINXP, a pain, but no errors or fuss. I don't plan to use this player for now, it has been a small dream to find one for a good price new in box.
UPDATE: I broke out the XP laptop yet again to try OpenMG 2.2 instead of 1.0 MSW. It works if I download the Sound Clip Driver. Sony only has the drivers for this version outside of the CD that came with this device. I am using a step down transformer so that I don't damage anything. This is a 100v DC brick after all... I never untied the cables either and returned them to their bags when done... Don't want it to lose it's mint feel.
So the battery in this thing is cooked. It never had much life when I first had it, lasting maybe an hour... but after some use it has gotten down to only 5-10min after a full charge... That is not ideal. In addition, all other units I see online for sale has the same issue... sellers claiming the battery is bad and doesn't hold a charge at all. With this being a proprietary lithium ion battery from 1999 (same age as me!), and no replacements available, some may feel that the book is closed on this unit... but it's not. Together with iFixit staff, I have rewritten the book on replacing batteries in devices that either have no replacement available, or are too old to have spare parts for purchase anywhere. Example, I authored this guide on the Ring Doorbell Pro several years back, and this is the method we will be doing today. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Ring+Video+Doorbell+Pro+Battery+Replacement/119125 We will remove the old cell, desolder the charging circuit, and carefully migrate it to a new blank cell. AS I EXPLAINED IN THE IFIXIT GUIDE FOR THE RING, SOLDERING DIRECTLY TO BATTERIES IS RISKY... DON'T DO IT... BUT PLEASE DO IT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE ON THE EDGE. I took the unit apart very easily, it has an old cellphone style design door on the back: The weird dot next to the reset button above the door is a rubber cover that must be removed very gently... when it is peeled away, there is a plastic clasp with a dot that you slide, and then pry the back off. The service manual diagrams this very well: Once the back is off, you have to gently pry the battery away from the battery lid as it is held in by adhesive. The battery door is super brittle and old... be insanely careful and patent. Flexing the door gently on its corners is a sure fire way of handing this removal. Then it's just a matter of stripping the battery: There is green tape around the edge, just remove that and take out the charging circuit by desoldering it from the poles on the edge. You can do the same with the new battery too as there will be kapton tape holding it in. I used this cell: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TS8M2FK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details the 6 digit code is VERY important here... 702540. This is referring to the dimensions... in this case it's 7x25x40mm. This is slightly smaller perimeter wise than the OG Sony battery, but the thickness of 7mm is spot on. Both are 700mah, so the battery life should be the same in theory. I wasn't able to find any battery that had the same dimensions + more mah, cells with 1000+mah wouldn't fit. Here's what it should look like when buttoned up: I used two strips of kapton tape wrapped around the battery to hold the charging circuit to the side of the battery (not a good picture, but you can see where the ribbon cable comes from is where the circuit is). I also used very short wires from the new cell to the charging circuit. the old battery stretched edge to edge inside the battery door, but this new one has left room around the perimeter... that's good, because it allows for wires or the charging circuit to be placed somewhere else in the battery door. Remember, when doing this repair, use enough tape to insulate the battery from the circuit board in the unit, but not too much to where it would be difficult to undo if additional repair was needed. And that's it... battery is done. Now for battery life. Sony reports a charging time of roughly 3 hours and a battery life of 'about 4 hours' in the manual for the original cell. After putting in the new cell, charing time was just over 3 hours, but the battery life had a large range, from as much as 3:50 to around 3:10. Sony's notices section in the user guide says that depending on usage, the range will vary... so I don't feel like these numbers are off by much. I also found that I could maximize battery life with the new cell by using the unit as soon as it's charged up, instead of charging and then storing for a few days before use. I was initially concerned because the unit has considerable heat buildup when charging, but only sometimes. It's not "hot" to where it burns you, but it certainly reminds me of all of those old flip phones I had back in the day. This is also something I observed with the original cell, and the manual states that heat buildup after use and when charging is common. All in all, I think the NW-MS7 is a great ATRAC player, plus a cool vintage Y2K piece, but I would recommend newer versions (NW-MS9) to avoid these battery problems... unless you are like me and have an affinity for this specific model and don't mind thinking outside the box.
Always good to see a battery replacement guide for old devices I was dimly aware of some (maybe most) early digital audio products like this. I spent a lot of time searching through old reviews / product guides / and on ebay back in the 2008 time frame looking to find a "good" MP3 player that took AA cells. The limitations of early digital audio devices were... disappointing to say the least. (A few years later I was using Olympus voice recorders that record in MP3 at 128 or 192. Easily transfer any MP3 file to them with USB cable, no special drivers needed, no copyright garbage and runs of AAA cells. That was the breakthrough "loophole" audio device for me.)
That's honestly very resourceful, and I'd say not many people thought of that... or else the record companies might have closed in on those IC voice recorders. Some of them were also very slick and pricy, so it's like the equivalent of using a walkman professional or recording walkman for playback I'd think. I've never owned an IC voice recorder, but I sure did lust after some of those metal Sony's I'd see floating around big box stores back around that time. Funny enough, Sony cloned the NW-MS7 into the ICD-MS1 voice recorder: It bears an uncanny similarity to my MS Walkman, except it has no MagicGate DRM, and a ton more professional features. Uses 2 AAA cells, so no need to replace a rechargeable cell. The UI and screen are identical it appears, so using it would be familiar. I'm using my NW-MS7 as my daily driver. I purchased a complete Sony PCV-MXS1 to sync this with. Stay tuned for a post on my experiences with that...
Most likely, this will be my final update for this project. I really wanted to use this as my daily driver instead of a Discman or say Spotify. After all, I gave new life to it; it's brand new... why not enjoy it? Before doing that, I really needed to defeat the problem of syncing with a PC. I just don't like the vanilla OpenMG experience under windows, and USB drivers for windows with this player just don't work to my satisfaction. Plus, you are defeating the main benefit of removable cards when you connect it directly to the computer, instead of popping out the memory stick and putting it into a reader. I am envisioning multiple MG memory sticks, all labeled based on my mixes and albums, and never connecting the unit to the computer, but rather using the sticks in a reader. I could do this with SonicStage and a dedicated MagicGate MS usb reader... but that's too costly for what you get. Plus, you still need a USB peripheral to interface between the player and the computer. There is truly only one way to have a seamless experience that combines the convenience of Memory sticks, the power of a jukebox program, plus have it all built in without addons. VAIO MX: I purchased this PCV-MXS1 music server just to enjoy my newly repaired MS Walkman... and boy does it work well. It has a built in Memory Stick MagicGate player and reader, so you just take the memory stick out of the player, and put it into a slot in the computer, and presto. It's like a 1-to-1 copy of the walkman's software on the VAIO's inbuilt LCD: So the hardware is exactly what I need. Inbuilt Memory Stick tools so that taking out sticks in my Walkman feels like a natural extension of the computer, plus inbuilt NETMD player/recorder. But the software is really where it comes together. SonicStage Premium: SonicStage Premium fixes all of the issues of regular SonicStage. No need for MD or MS USB drivers... it's already inbuilt. No need for multiple Jukeboxes and audio tools... Premium has it all. Plus, it has a way better way of storing CDs to the internal HDD, and then adding them to the stick or MD. Truly, I can't believe I can say this... but SonicStage is not buggy or laggy, or useless in this scenario. Overall, I'm a happy camper. I look forward to ripping CDs to this unit, and then making memory sticks with various tracks I can enjoy on my walkman.
I like your dedication to old audio devices The Sony Vaio looks great. I remember well the "Vaio" ads and high prices associated with them back in the day.
I hadn't seen it before either... I was just online researching MagicGate readers... and saw it on Yahoo Auctions Japan. I immediately saw it held the answers to all of my early 2000s media problems! I remember the Vaio products too... always wanted one, never had the money for 'em. They were always media heavy, which I loved because other PCs at the time had poor media support. I mean, the VAIO MX has built in optical in/out plus FM radio! Who else was doing that?
